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Centre Half Please


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Spoke to TC today, he said he's hoping to make 1 more signing, a defender...

Doesn't look like it will be Cian Bolger.

http://www.burndenaces.co.uk/2014/08/02/bolton-accept-bids-for-eaves-bolger.html

Speculation earlier this week suggested Bolger was a loan target for Southend boss Phil Brown, but a permanent deal now appears to be on the cards. The Republic of Ireland under-21 international has featured heavily during pre-season, but has failed to make a competitive first-team appearance for Dougie Freedman's side.

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Maybe I'm in the minority here but the centre we had on trial looked quite good. Granted he wasn't a big hard man type defender but was comfortable with both feet and looked reasonably fast. Obviously something he saw in training persuaded TC not to offer him a deal because he certainly never done anything wrong in the 2 matches i saw.

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Stuck record syndrome................................ many have been saying for at least two to three seasons we need (or would like) a no nonsense, non-liability, central defender.

I appreciate they may be relatively thin on the ground but they can be found.

Through the years we have has quite a few CH's that might fill that description: Jim Clunie (first time around), Bobby Reid, Gordon McQueen, Jack Copeland amongst others. Cuthbert more recently had some of the attributes, but maybe not all.

I don't mind a loan for a season, or someone with good experience perhaps getting slightly on in their football career....... Willie Renton comes to mind, he played alongside McFadden, a pretty inexperienced young CH who he brought along and encouraged in each game. I tend to think that McAusland is exactly the same kind of player as McFadden, has attributes, but needs a good older experienced player alongside him to get rid of the basic mistakes.

I think the over-riding feeling within the support is that we NEED another central defender as back-up or maybe even as first choice.

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I think Marc Macausland is nowhere near as bad as people make out. Just another scapegoat for the support to lambast at every opportunity.

If Marc was a brilliant defender he wouldn't be playing for St Mirren. He is however a good defender who gives his all for our club and I can see him having a very good season.

I wonder if Tommy is happy with the cover at CH that Naismith, Goodwin and Plummer provide alongside Marc? If he is then he may not sign another CH if the right player isn't actually available.

Edited by Mr Zo
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Agree pretty much with mr zo's comments.

mcausland is pretty decent and we have loads of guys who can play central defence.

we are probably more short with cover for Goodwin in mifield or at right back ifnaismith is injured or plays in central defence

lets stop messing about here. When folk talk about us needing another central defender they don't mean as a squad player or cover

what they really mean is that they hope mcausland is replaced

some are willing to say it straight whereas, some are too scared to say it straight and others r just pussies!

if we r to sign a new out and out central defender then he needs to be better than mcausland otherwise there is no point

i think we'll struggle to find anyone better than mcausland

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I have no clue whether we're going to sign a centre half or not, all I know is, if we do sign one, it'll be because Tommy Craig thinks he will improve the starting 11. I think it's clear already that he'd much rather give guys like Williams a chance, than pay some waster god knows how much a week to sit on the bench just to appease the fans, and I can't say I disagree with him. I don't know about anyone else, but I have no desire to see our club's, already tight, budget stretched even further to sign someone just for the sake of it.

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Maybe I'm in the minority here but the centre we had on trial looked quite good. Granted he wasn't a big hard man type defender but was comfortable with both feet and looked reasonably fast. Obviously something he saw in training persuaded TC not to offer him a deal because he certainly never done anything wrong in the 2 matches i saw.

He wasn't strong in the air i suspect that was the reason

I want a centre to come in to play beside Cheesy as the others would be makeshift centres who are better in other positions

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He wasn't strong in the air i suspect that was the reason

I want a centre to come in to play beside Cheesy as the others would be makeshift centres who are better in other positions

plummer has already been brought in to play alongside mcausland

naismith, Goodwin, tesselaar and Williams can all cover central defence

any new out and out new central defender would need to be a replacement for mcausland or there is no point

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I thought cheesy was poor last season after having had a good season during 2012/13. Last season our defence cost us big time and I agree with Ricky gillies writing in the paper on sat. Unless we get in an experienced centre back it will be another long season. 4 out of the 8 pundits in a daily paper have tipped us for the drop. We need a defender and in all probability a midfielder like Newton to help us. I am usually excited and optimistic each season but I am really concerned with some folk already tipping us for a top six finish. The squad lacks depth and in defence we need bolstered with a dynamic midfielder also a must. For me at the minute we might score a few but I think the defence will certainly concede too. With this squad I predict we will finish 9th.

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if we don't sign a first pick (even ST loan for cover) centre back i can only assume TC believes we have more than enough going forward, and being more direct/quicker to play the last ball now Gowser isn't there to slow the forward movement down.

Understand that is not a criticism of Gowser's style, but an accurate assessment of how we played with him, McLean and McGinn. Too often the move fizzled out as we waited for Gowser to pick a pass, or indeed let the ball run on for the Mc's!

Gowser couldn't shoot from distance, the Mc's can and do, they also pick great angles to run more directly forcing defences in to mistakes. Gowser was predictable when he didn't have a pass on, he always turned back and kept possesion too long before being robbed.

So i'd expect with the other additions to see us still playing football, but like Germany be quicker back to front, and work all the options with a couple of decent poachers there to feed off the Mc's.

That said TC will probably now bring in a decent CB on loan.

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Last season our defence cost us big time.

That's not strictly true. 5 teams in the division lost more goals than we did. FFS Motherwell lost more than us and they finished 2nd.

That doesn't tell the true story of the defence though as they were "protected" by a 5 man midfield that sat very deep on most occasions. I do agree that our defence wasn't great last year. Keeper was ropey until Kello came in, the two young fullbacks were inconsistent and McAusland and McGregor gave what was expected. Solid some weeks, shite others.

We do need an experienced, physical centre half IMO that will marshall the defence and be a real leader for the team but I wouldn't have thought we have the budget for that now.

So, I expect a loan deal for some EPL kid looking to cut his teeth as a squad player and we'll shuffle the pack, likely putting Goodwin back in there, until McAusland is fit again.

Not ideal but more than likely IMO.

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plummer has already been brought in to play alongside mcausland

naismith, Goodwin, tesselaar and Williams can all cover central defence

any new out and out new central defender would need to be a replacement for mcausland or there is no point

If that's the case (it isn't)

Competition never hurt anyone and every player should be on their toes

Start of the season we shouldn't be shuffling the pack or rushing a player back from injury

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